Three officials at LG Electronics Inc. will stand trial for allegedly wrecking washers of rival company Samsung Electronics Co. at German shops, prosecutors said Sunday, as the two parties failed to reach a settlement after five months of wrangling.
The Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office said it has indicted Jo Seong-jin, president of LG's home appliance division, and two other company executives on charges of vandalizing three Samsung washers at two German shops in September.
Samsung has claimed that LG staff members were spotted breaking the doors of Samsung's washing machines at the Berlin shops and were reported to the local police by shop clerks. CCTV footage showed the LG employees pressing down on the doors of the machines until they would not close properly, Samsung claimed.
The alleged incident occurred during an international consumer electronics exhibition under way at the time in Berlin.
LG refuted Samsung's accusations and countersued Samsung for defamation and forging evidence. Since then, the two companies have been lashing out at each other through numerous press releases.
In December, prosecutors raided LG's Seoul-based office to confiscate documents and computer files and summoned executives involved in the case. In the meantime, prosecutors had tried to mediate the case but failed.
LG vowed to fight the case in court.
"It is questionable that executives of a global company would have intentionally vandalized products with employees of its rival company watching. We will reveal the truth in court hearings," Jo's lawyer Han Yoon-geun said.
The wrangling was also turning into a proxy war between affiliates of the tech giants.
On Sunday, LG Display Co., LG's panel making unit, urged its archrival Samsung Display Co. to stop "unfair practices."
The move comes after prosecutors on Friday indicted four officials at Samsung Display on charges of stealing LG Display's technology related to organic light-emitting diodes through an LG contractor on several occasions in 2010.
"We regret Samsung Display's systematic and illegal stealing of LG's OLED technology," LG Display said in a press release. "Samsung should stop hurting its competitor through different means, such as tech leak allegations, illegal acquisition of technology and patent suits. As a global company, Samsung should engage in fair competition."
Samsung Display reacted by saying prosecutors applied "excessive standards" to "common business practices" between companies and demanded LG stop the slandering.
"The related technology had already been well known in the industry. There was no reason (for Samsung Display) to illegally acquire the technology," Samsung Display said in a statement. (Yonhap)
